Home theaters are becoming more and more complicated, and with each new component comes another remote. Trying to teach the less tech-savvy of the family to use all those black and silver bars properly is just not practical any more. A good universal remote is necessary. Harmony has been one of the companies at the forefront of consumer-level universal remotes for years now, for good reason. Harmony has built a solid following thanks to their wonderfully simple and flexible software that makes programming their remotes easy for even the least techno-savvy user. The Harmony One takes the knowledge derived from all of the company's previous remotes and builds upon this, making one of the most modern user-friendly remotes on the planet, all for a price of only $249.99.

The One has the ability to control 15 different components and a mix of both a small touch screen and numerous backlit buttons for all commonly-used functions. Packed in a sleek and shiny package, the One is as beautiful as it is functional. An included lithium ion battery and charging base station keep the remote ever ready for use and the charge lasts days should you forget to replace it in the charger. Harmony's activities profiles let you set start-up macros for anything you could need. The Help function will walk you through the macros when things don't go as planned.

High Points
• Simple and easy set-up
• Capable of controlling numerous components with user-definable macros
• Rechargeable battery and docking station included
• Color touch screen for coolness factor
• Plenty of hard buttons laid out in an organized fashion make the remote very usable
• Reasonably inexpensive
• Both Mac- and PC-compliant

Low Points
• Touch screen is very small and offers less options than previous models, so will be cumbersome to use in large complicated systems
• No RF capability

Conclusion
The Harmony One is a solid universal remote capable of controlling up to 15 different components. Its ease of use and the famous Harmony Help button will make it work for the whole family. The limited number of selections possible on the small touch screen can make it cumbersome to use in large, complicated systems with multiple start macros and the need for use of keys not found in hard buttons on the remote, but you'll have to weigh this against the coolness factor of the touch screen itself when deciding if this is the remote for you.